Antibiotics have been the magic bullets for human health for decades but irrational use and mindless popping has made majority of the world's bugs resistant to them.

New Delhi: Even as the world grapples with the challenge of growing drug resistance and its impact on treating diseases, doctors, public health experts, microbiologists and environmentalists in India have raised concerns about irrational use of antibiotics in humans as well as animals.

In a meeting organized by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on antibiotic resistance, strong concerns were raised on how treating common bacterial conditions and post-surgery infections is increasingly becoming difficult due to drug resistance.

Antibiotics are often prescribed even in some cases where they may not be particularly required. Such medicines are often pushed through retailers to ramp up sales. Apart from irrational prescription and consumption of antibiotics by patients, experts also raised concerns about excessive use of these drugs in animal farm industry, primarily for growth promotion and disease prevention.

"We need to preserve the existing antibiotics since we cannot afford the new expensive molecules whenever they come. It is more relevant for us than other nations to preserve the current antibiotics. The irrational use of antibiotics in human and animal use is going to put us in a huge quandary, and human health in particular is at stake," said Dr Chand Wattal, senior consultant, at Ganga Ram Hospital Delhi.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.